Tampa Bay Rays Starter Shane Baz Struggles with Control

Now in his fourth season of Major League experience, the oft-injured righty is not known to lose control of his offerings as he did in his most recent outing. Even with the three walks, he carries a career BB/9 of 2.97, and it sat at 2.8 entering Thursday.

Control is what ailed him in his April 19 start against the New York Yankees, as well. In that outing, Baz was only able to get through 3.1 innings, yet he allowed five runs, all earned, on four hits and four walks. If you remove the seven walks between those two outings in nine innings, he has only otherwise walked five batters in 26 innings.

Outside of those two starts, Baz has been an American League Cy Young caliber pitcher. His ERA in his four good outings sits at 1.04 with 33 strikeouts. In the two blowups alone, his ERA is 12.00.

The stuff is still there for Baz. He has multiple outings this year with double-digit strikeouts. Sometimes pitchers lose their command, and for some pitchers, it is much more detrimental to their success than for others.

It is far too early to give up on Shane Baz. While his performances are volatile, the high ceiling is there and reachable should he stay healthy. The floor just may be much lower than anyone originally thought it would be for the righty.